ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 61697
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| Date: | Sunday 24 October 1976 |
| Time: | c. 15:45 LT |
| Type: |  De Havilland DH-82A Tiger Moth |
| Owner/operator: | Mr T.C.Williams |
| Registration: | ZK-BDH |
| MSN: | DHA320 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Motueka Aerodrome, Nelson -
 New Zealand
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Demo/Airshow/Display |
| Departure airport: | Motueka Aerodrome, Motueka, Tasman, New Zealand (MZP/NZMK) |
| Motueka Aerodrome, Motueka, Tasman, New Zealand (MZP/NZMK) | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information verified through data from accident investigation authorities |
de Havilland DH.82a Tiger Moth MSN DHA.320; Taken on charge by the RAAF as A17-301 at 2 Aircraft Depot, RAAF Richmond 17.3.41. To 8 EFTS RAAF Narrandera 24.3.41. To DH Australia, Mascot, Sydney, NSW 22.6.43 for overhaul (DHA No T121). To 2 Aircraft Park 1.9.43. To 10 EFTS RAAF Temora 6.9.43; withdrawn to storage reserve 30.1.45; returned to service 23.4.45, back to storage reserve 20.8.45. Transferred to Care & Maintenance Unit 12.3.46; put up for sale 7.6.46.
Struck off charge when sold 2.6.47 for £115 to Wollongong & South Coast Aviation Service; issued 12.6.47. Australian civil registered as VH-BDW (C of R 1365) 11.7.47 to Wollongong & South Coast Aviation Services (Pty) Ltd, Wollongong, NSW. Re-registered 20.4.48 to W I & G Sanderson, Condobolin, NSW. C of A lapsed 10.7.48; registration cancelled 6.8.51 as WFU ("Withdrawn From Use")
Re-registered in New Zealand as ZK-BDH 19.8.53 to Aircraft Service (NZ) Ltd, Ardmore; fleet no.12. Damaged in crash while topdressing at Glorit 18.12.54. Re-registered 13.11.63 to Weedair (NZ) Ltd, Auckland. Withdrawn from use at Mangere, Auckland 3.2.65 (or after last flight on 4.3.65?) and registration cancelled as "reduced to spares" while operated by Weedair (NZ) Ltd. Stored at Pepepe, near Huntly in dismantled condition. Rebuilt and registration restored 18.5.76 to T C Williams, Masterton; (using c/n "T121R").
Written off (destroyed) when crashed and destroyed by fire during a ‘crazy flying’ demonstration at an air display at Motueka Aerodrome, Motueka, Tasman, New Zealand 24.10.76; Pilot: Ronald Trevor Alexander killed.
The accident aircraft was taking part in an air pageant organised by the Motueka Aero Club. The program included a flight by the accident pilot who was to simulate an inexperienced pilot flying in unusual attitudes at a low level.
Mr Alexander was an airline pilot with a total of 13,954 flying hours logged. In the previous 90 days he had flown 125 hours in airliners, but no flying in light aircraft in that time until the morning of the accident. He was an experienced DH82 pilot, but had only flown the accident aircraft ZK-BDH once before. That flight was a 15-minute evaluation on the morning of the crash. The pilot was briefed on the proposed flight by an official of the Civil Aviation Division and the flight was approved.
ZK-BDH was an agricultural version of the DH82a Tiger Moth 2-seat trainer. The front cockpit had been replaced by a hopper with a streamlined top, and the mouth of the hopper projected from the underside of the fuselage.
Unlike other agricultural Tiger Moths, however, ZK-BDH was not fitted with a fine pitch propeller, but retained the standard airscrew used on the trainers.
The pilot took off at 15:40 to carry out his display. The flying weather was satisfactory with a N to NNE surface wind of 10 to 15 knots, occasionally gusting to 20 knots. The pilot made made several low runs over the runway (02) and then commenced another run starting from the western boundary of the airfield. During this run the plane was seen to be banked and side-slipping to the left. Towards the northern end of the runway the Tiger Moth straightened up, flew level for a few seconds, and then pulled up steeply into a RH climbing turn. At the top of the turn with the nose being lowered to level flight, but still in a steep bank, the aircraft stalled and dived into the ground.
The aircraft was wrecked by the ground impact with the interplane and cabane struts collapsing. The pipe from the fuel tank to the engine was ruptured and the fuel flowing out was ignited by a small fire that had broken out at the rear of the engine.
The pilot appeared to be dead or unconscious. Helpers were quickly at the scene with hand-held extinguishers but were driven back by the intense heat before they could remove the pilot from the wreckage. The blaze was put out by a fire engine from the nearby township, arriving about 4 minutes after the crash. The pilot did not survive.
The crash investigators in their report came to the following conclusions:
"3.3. The aircraft was airworthy until the moment of impact.
3.4. The aircraft stalled during a nose high slipping turn to the right.
3.5. There was not sufficient height available for the pilot to recover from the stall before the aircraft struck the ground.
4.0. Probable cause: The accident resulted from a stall incurred during a wing-over manoeuvre at a height which precluded a recovery before the aircraft struck the ground."
Registration ZK-BDH cancelled 8.6.84 as "destroyed"
Sources:
1. http://www.adf-serials.com.au/2a17b.htm
2. Office of Air Accidents Investigation Report No. 76-119
3. http://archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewEntity.do?code=7333
4. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/production-lists/DH82.pdf
5. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/pAus3.html
6. https://rnzaf.proboards.com/thread/13481
7. http://edcoatescollection.com/ac2/NZBA/ZK-BDH.html
8. https://rnzaf.proboards.com/post/32806
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motueka_Aerodrome .
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 22-May-2009 12:58 | XLerate | Added |
| 23-Jun-2009 15:50 | angels one five | Updated |
| 01-Nov-2009 02:13 | angels one five | Updated |
| 02-Jun-2011 19:20 | angels one five | Updated [Time, Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 02-Jan-2012 00:53 | angels one five | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 17-Feb-2017 08:00 | d.thistoll@xtra.co.n | Updated [Narrative] |
| 07-Jan-2022 23:50 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Cn, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category] |
| 07-Jan-2022 23:51 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Narrative] |
| 07-Jan-2022 23:53 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 23-Jan-2022 03:34 | Ron Averes | Updated [Aircraft type, Cn, Location] |
| 25-Jan-2022 07:17 | Ron Averes | Updated [Location] |
| 26-May-2022 02:39 | angels one five | Updated [Narrative] |
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